Those who make this assertion have gone so far as to

compare Ho Chi Minh's actions in Viet Nam with the efforts

of President Lincoln to preserve the Union during the American Civil War. Any such characterization is an entire fiction disregarding the actual situation in Viet Nam. The Hanoi

regime is anything but the legitimate government of a unified country in which the South is rebelling against lawful national authority.

The Geneva Accords of 1954 provided for a division of Viet Nam into two zones at the 17th parallel. Although this line of demarcation was intended to be temporary, it was established by international agreement, which specifically forbade aggression by one zone against the other.

The Republic of Viet Nam in the South has been recognized as a separate international entity by approximately sixty governments the world over. It has been admitted as a member of a number of the specialized agencies of the United Nations. The United Nations General Assembly in 1957 voted to recommend South Viet Nam for membership in the Organization, and its admission was frustrated only by the veto of the Soviet Union in the Security Council.

In any event there is no warrant for the suggestion that

armed forces from the other zone, crossing the internationally recognized line of demarcation between the two. Any such doctrine would subvert the international agreement establishing the line of demarcation, and would pose grave dangers to international peace.

The action of the United Nations in the Korean conflict of 1950 clearly established the principle that there is no greater license for one zone of a temporarily divided state to attack the other zone than there is for one state to attack another state. South Viet Nam has the same right that South Korea had to defend itself and to organize collective defense against an armed attack from the North. A resolution of the Security Council dated June 25, 1950 noted "with grave concern the armed attack upon the Republic of Korea by forces from North Korea" and determined "that this action constitutes a breach of the peace".

2.

The United States is entitled to participate in the collective defense of South Viet Nam whether or not the latter is regarded as an independent sovereign state

As stated earlier, South Viet Nam has been recognized as a separate international entity by approximately sixty It has been admitted to membership in a

governments.

number of the United Nations specialized agencies, and has been excluded from the United Nations Organization only by the Soviet veto.

There is nothing in the Charter to suggest that United Nations Members are precluded from participating in the defense of a recognized international entity against armed attack merely because the entity may lack some of the attributes of an independent sovereign state. Any such result would have a destructive effect on the stability of international engagements such as the Geneva Accords of 1954 and on internationally agreed lines of demarcation. Such a result, far from being in accord with the Charter and the Purposes of the United Nations, would undermine them and would create new dangers to international peace and security.

- 15

E.

The United Nations Charter Does Not Limit the
Right of Self-Defense to Regional Organizations

Some have argued that collective self-defense may be undertaken only by a regional arrangement or agency operating under Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter. Such an assertion ignores the structure of the Charter and the practice followed in the more than twenty years since the founding of the United Nations.

The basic proposition that rights of self-defense are not impaired by the Charter

Article 51

as expressly stated in

is not conditioned by any Charter provision

limiting the application of this proposition to collective defense by a regional arrangement or agency. The structure

of the Charter reinforces this conclusion. Article 51

appears in Chapter VII of the Charter, entitled "Action With Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression", whereas Chapter VIII, entitled "Regional Arrangements", begins with Article 52 and embraces the two following articles. The records of the San Francisco Conference show that Article 51 was deliberately

placed in Chapter VII rather than Chapter VIII, "where

it would only have a bearing on the regional system."/

Under Article 51, the right of self-defense is available against any armed attack, whether or not the country attacked is a member of a regional arrangement and regardless of the source of the attack. Chapter VIII, on the other hand, deals with relations among members of a regional arrangement or agency, and authorizes regional action as appropriate for dealing with "local disputes". This distinction has been recognized ever since the founding of the United Nations in 1945.

For example, the North Atlantic Treaty has operated

as a collective security arrangement, designed to take common measures in preparation against the eventuality of

an armed attack for which collective defense under Article 51

would be required. Similarly, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization was designed as a collective defense arrangement under Article 51. Secretary of State Dulles emphasized

6/17 UNCIO Documents 288.